[photopress:green_buildings.jpg,full,alignright]There are real estate people in China who want to clean up the mess. Who would prefer to have a human friendly environment. Who would like the real estate business to take on a delicate shade of green.
Addressing an audience of real estate professionals at the Sino-International Real Estate Conference in Shanghai, Wang Ruoxiong, president of Tiantai Group based in Qingdao and president of China Urban Realty Association (CURA), said, ‘We’re observing a degradation of the environment. We have a responsibility toward the public welfare. There is a trend in China for real estate development to be more environmentally friendly. Ideally, over the next five years, we will see energy consumption reduced by 20% and waste output by 10%.’ Seems a reasonable target.
Wang Ruoxiong said the Bureau of Environmental Protection has promulgated new regulations to evaluate every real estate developer in China: ‘Those enterprises with a green investment should be exempt from taxation. This would be a favorable taxation policy for environmentally friendly real estate.’
Wang Ruoxiong described CURA, a private sector organization established in 1999, as a ‘club of good and big enterprises. As good corporate citizens, we feel a sense of responsibility. We will spare no effort in our mission to help China’s real estate industry evolve to the next level of green design.’
He said China needs to act now to avert potential energy and water shortages in the future. He said, ‘Our energy consumption is two to three times that of the world’s level. We consume 120,000 square meters of the land every year — this is much higher than the world level, and our consumption of the world’s cement supply to produce concrete is also much higher than the rest of the world.
‘We are building two billion square meters of real estate every year. In our drive for industrialization, it’s important for China to do some serious thinking.’
Some of the energy-efficient initiatives currently being explored by Chinese developers include rooftop panels that cool buildings in summer months without air conditioning and reduce the need for heating in the winter; aluminum alloy facades that draw humidity out and keep the building interior dry; independent ventilation technology that ensures healthy indoor air quality while also reducing the transmission of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome); and low-E windows since, according to Wang Ruoxiong, windows typically account for 40% of energy consumption in a building.
The biggest obstacle to CURA’s green mission will be educating consumers about the value of new technologies. Wang Ruoxiong said. ‘It will be hard for the apartment buyer to accept the extra cost. But we are optimistic. Environmental protectionism should be a national priority. It is real estate’s biggest challenge.’
Source: Multi Housing News